Today I am speaking with Finnish publisher Outi Karemaa.
I personally find the Nordic publishing market fascinating, not least because it is relatively difficult to sell into those markets. I like challenges!
Outi and I speak about those challenges, the state of the Finnish publishing market, and also about the rising popularity, and therefore competition, of English-language books on the Finnish market which we're seeing in other Nordic countries and the Netherlands as well.
Show Notes:
- The Spy and the Traitor (Crown, 2019) and Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy (Crown, 2020) by Ben Macintyre
- The Mitford Murders (series) (Minotaur Books) by Jessica Fellowes
Outi Karemaa (born 1969) is an experienced Chief Executive with a long history of working in the publishing business. She is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused on history from the University of Helsinki.
Outi started her career in the publishing business 1998 and worked at Edita Publishing as a Publishing Manager and then as a Publishing Director. In 2010 she started as a CEO of Metsäkustannus, which is a publisher of magazines and books.
In 2019 Outi started as a CEO at book publisher Minerva. After the biggest book publisher of Finland WSOY (Werner Söderström Ltd.) bought Minerva a year ago, her title has been a Publisher. Minerva is nowadays an imprint of WSOY, so Minerva still has its own publishing list. Minerva’s main areas are fiction, general non-fiction, as well as gift and hobby books and books for children. Outi lives in Helsinki with her family and a very social cat.
S3 E9: A Close Look at the Romanian Publishing Market with Ana Lotts-Nicolau
S3 E8: Agent Yasmina Jraissati on Selling Arabic Literature Internationally
S3 E7: The Place of Literary Agents in France: An Interview with Sophie Langlais
S3 E6: Les Argonautes Founder Katharina Loix Van Hooff on Making European Literature Travel to France
S3 E5: The Australian Publishing and Bookselling Landscape: An Interview with Penny Hueston
S3 E3: Amélie Louat on Leaving International Publishing to Open an Indie Bookstore
S3 E2: Looking at the Japanese Publishing Market with Manami Tamaoki
S3 E1: A Conversation with Stella Jóhannesdóttir, Director of the Reykjavík International Literary Festival
S2 E22: A Discussion with Edward Nawotka, international and bookselling editor at Publishers Weekly
S2 E21: Author, Translator, Publisher Lawrence Schimel on Book Hunting and Much More
S2 E20: An Interview with Astra Magazine's Editor-in-Chief Nadja Spiegelman
S2 E19: Marie Vinter on Danish Publishing & Starting Vinter Forlag
S2 E18: A Deep Dive into the Audiobook Market with Lance Fitzgerald
S2 E17: Prashant Pathak on Weathering the Pandemic in India and Publishers Without Borders
S2 E16: Natalia Poleva on the Current State of the Russian Publishing Market
S2 E15: Sherif Bakr Discusses the Latest Developments in the Egyptian Publishing Industry
S2 E14: Challenging the Amazon Empire: Bookshop.org Founder & CEO Andy Hunter
S2 E13: Being an Acquisitions Editor in the Educational Publishing Market: A Conversation with Allison Scott
S2 E12: An Interview with Deborah Kaufmann, VP of Literary Affairs at Legendary Entertainment
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Lit Society: Books and Drama
Ex Libris
Write The Book: Conversations on Craft
Gulliver’s Travels
Just So Stories
Fresh Air
Myths and Legends